News

American scholar and Theravada monk Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi might not receive the same high-profile press coverage as the Roman Catholic Church’s charismatic standard-bearer Pope Francis, but it is becoming evident to Buddhism watchers and commentators ...

The annual three-month Buddhist Lent, starting today, aims at giving monks time for intensive meditation and spiritual contemplation. Many devout Buddhists also use this period to observe more strictly the sila or moral precepts ...

Thai Buddhists have offered to help a network of hardline anti-Muslim Myanmar monks set up a radio station to spread their message across a nation where sectarian hatred is on the rise.

A good deal of contemporary Buddhist literature exists that confronts unhealthy and deluded ideas of romantic and sexual love. Today’s popular media and advertising certainly peddles a distorted vision of erotic desire, or eros, as one of self-fulfillment and attachment...

Every time Thailand hits world headlines — be it because of forced or child prostitution, slave labor, human trafficking or political violence — the world asks: how could a Buddhist country commit such crimes?

The Department of Religious Affairs has invited Buddhists in Thailand to perform good deeds and wear white clothes on their visit to nearby temples on the occasion of Visakha Puja Day and Atthamee Puja Day 2015.

The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation announced on 12 May that 18 scholars who are seeking to shed fresh light on a range of Buddhism-related subjects have been selected for grants under The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies.

The Southeast Asian countries Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar are known for their many colorful and enjoyable festivals. One of the most popular is Magha Puja or Sangha Day, an important Buddhist festival that extends across many cultures and beliefs...

in order to ensure rebirth in the Land of Bliss, Pure Land practitioners should not mix Amitabha-recitation with other Buddhist practices. It is essential not to mix practices because keeping the practice pure shows the practitioner’s full confidence and reliance on “Buddha power” in order to attain the Buddha’s merit and ...

The Buddhist holiday of Makha Bucha, or Magha Puja, was celebrated in Thailand this year on 4 March. The holiday is mainly observed in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos, and according to the lunar calendar, falls on the full moon day of ...

Many ancient Buddhist sites in Pakistan are deteriorating due to the lack of any proper conservation effort. According to The Express Tribune, further damage has been done to these sites through indifference and neglect on the part of the government ...

What is next after we place our faith in Amitabha’s deliverance? One is considered to have established the two kinds of deep faith when one is earnest in one’s aspiration to be reborn in the Land of ...

If we really had to point it out, we can say that there are six "kinds" of Buddhists. Some of these Buddhists are born Buddhists, other find it, while some just think it's cool. Titling ourselves as Buddhist is like titling ourselves as one of the "cool kids" at school...

How to be truthful in a hostile environment? How to say things that need to be said to avoid coercion and violence from low tolerance of criticism? What should we respect more in an open society where different cultural norms often compete and clash ...

The incomparable loftiness of the monk figure—placid and disinterested, having renounced desire—leads many to think of Buddhism as a religion detached from all worldly concerns, especially those of economy. But Buddhism has always addressed a continuum...

On 29 November, 8 bhikkhunis and 47 novices were ordained at Thippayasathandhamma Bhikkhuni Arama, a nunnery located on the islet of Koh Yor in Thailand’s Songhkla Province. The ceremony was performed by...

As part of the Educare mission to provide essential school items to children in need regardless of race or religion, a total of 10,000 disadvantaged Malaysian students nationwide received essential school items such as school uniforms, bags, shoes

In his current state, Thay is able to recognize familiar faces. He is very responsive to verbal stimuli and has brought everyone great joy by starting to smile in the last few days. One of Thay’s close attendants recounted some shared memories from being on ...

Adherents of Tibetan Buddhism believe the Dalai Lama, the religion’s highest spiritual authority, has been reincarnated in an unbroken line for centuries. But the current Dalai Lama says he may be the last.

Nobel Peace Laureates gathered in the Giulio Cesar Hall on Rome’s Capitol Hill for the final session of their 14th World Summit. Proceedings opened with Ekaterina Zagladina, President of Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace...

The Buddha is renowned as an accomplished teacher, and his sole purpose was to propagate the truth of life as he understood it. TheAriyapariyesana Sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya (Collection of middle-length discourses) explicitly indicates ...

Reading another’s journal is like peering through a window into a person’s world. I recently read The Intimate Merton (1999)—the collected journals of Thomas Merton, the American Trappist monk, writer, and mystic. It was quite illuminating....

Museum in London. Buddhist art of this region rarely features in special exhibitions in this part of the world. However, the aim of this exhibition was not necessarily to display “art,” but rather aspects of the religion as practiced on a daily basis in Myanmar (Burma)...

Every day, these nuns from the Drukpa Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism practice like this for two hours, tirelessly repeating the various movements taught by their teacher Jigme Rigzang, who lives in Vietnam and comes to ...

With a deep mindful breath we announce to the world the news that yesterday, the 11th of November 2014 Thay, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, experienced a severe brain hemorrhage. Thay is receiving 24 hour intensive care from specialist doctors, nurses and from his monastic disciples.

A grand Buddhist ceremony was held in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh on 28 October to bless Cambodia’s constitutional monarch, King Norodom Sihamoni, and to mark the tenth anniversary of his coronation. According to the People’s Daily...

Formed in 1919, the American Council of Learned Societies is a private, non-profit federation of 72 national learned societies. As representative of American scholarship, the ACLS supports work across the humanities and humanistic social sciences ...

On 19 September, the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, announced this year’s winners of the Toshihide Numata Book Prize: Erik Braun, professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma...

All sentient beings fear death. Many of us have wondered what it might be like to extend our lives beyond the natural lifespan—perhaps forever. One hundred and two years after the last imperial dynasty ended in China, the emperor’s fabled search for eternal life...

The scholarship scheme implemented by Lotus Outreach and Buddhist Global Relief (BGR) provides primary and secondary education scholarships to meritorious female students in Cambodia. BGR has made such scholarships available in countries with...